One Day
by Xardion
Summary: Panic grew further and she felt the urge to run. But two things stopped her. The tree blocking her from behind, and the warm hand holding onto hers. Oneshot. Please R


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Oh well.

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_Inspired from a fan-art image_

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_**One Day**_

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Walking along a woodland path, Hinata Hyuuga sighed to herself. It had been three days since Paine's attack on the village. She had just gotten out of the medical area after being treated for her wounds. _Rushed out, actually... _The time she spent recovering was all focused on that one moment, the moment where she had done the bravest thing she had ever done. Braver than facing Pain in that battle… Braver than facing Neji in the Chunin exams…

She told Naruto...

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_"Because...I love you."_

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Part of her was a little annoyed that despite all her years of training and improvement, she still felt faint at being Naruto's presence. In fact, she could only count at least two to three times when that hadn't been the case, the foremost being the fight against Paine. The sad part about that was that she thought she would die anyway, and she had to let him know how she felt. But now, she was still alive, he was still alive, and she was greatly nervous.

But she still had to see him...

Sighing again, Hinata gazed out before her. Her walk had brought her to a small pond within the forest. It was a beautiful sight, one that brought a wistful smile to Hinata's lips. Despite the destruction and recent tensions, such a beautiful and quiet place could still exist. _'Perhaps I should go back.'_ However, she was only able to turn partly before she saw the object of her thoughts and affections just approaching her.

"Naruto-kun..."

"Hinata...?" The young shinobi blinked in surprise. "What are you doing out here?"

"K-Kakashi-san told me w-w-where to look for you." she stuttered, her cheek turning rosy.

"Kakashi-sensei, huh?" he replied, raising his eyes thoughtfully. "I guess I have been out here for a... Wait." His gaze returned to Hinata and he blinked again. "You were looking for me?"

"Y-yes. I just... I wanted..." She paused for a moment, breathing to control her nervousness, before she was able to clearly answer. "I wanted to see how you were."

"I'm alright, I guess." His gaze turned the falling sunset and his voice lowered. "I've just been thinking a lot, that's all."

"Oh, okay..."

Silence soon passed over the two as Naruto continued to look over at the sunset, while Hinata looked at him. Memories of the times when she watched him from afar came to mind. But as he remained silent, she felt as though she was intruding on his private time. Her eyes lowering, Hinata turned and began to walk away when his voice broke the silence.

"Um, Hinata..."

Hinata stopped in her tracks. "Yes...?"

"You don't have to leave, if you don't want to."

The eyes of the Hyuuga heiress widened and she slowly turned around. "I- I don't want to... impose on you..."

"It's okay. Please?"

She didn't know what it was; seeing his profile against the fading sunlight, the distant expression on his face or the tone of his voice, but whatever it was, she found herself moving until she was right beside him. It was odd, seeing him this way. She was quite used to seeing the energetic shinobi who would always claim to become the next Hokage. This quiet, somber young man was someone she had seen only once.

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_"I may appear to be strong to you but...that's because I act all tough because I'm so frustrated from always failing..."_

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As the sun descended on the horizon and night began to fall, Naruto found himself questioning why he asked Hinata to stay. It wasn't that her presence was a bother. It was quite the opposite really. But with all the things that had happened to him, there was a lot on his mind. The death of his mentor, Jiraiya, the Fourth Hokage being his father. Yet the greatest thing on his mind was regarding the young woman standing beside him now.

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___"Because...I love you."_

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That scene had been replaying itself in his mind. It was no wonder that he lost complete control of the Nine-Tails demon within him. To have someone say those words to him, only to be struck down and believed dead... Even now, he felt a wisp of the demon's energy at the remembrance of that moment, but he quickly suppressed it. But there was something he wanted to know for sure. And now was a good a time as any, now that she was here.

"Hinata. May I ask you something?"

Her thoughts interrupted, Hinata turned to face Naruto. She had been so engrossed in her own thoughts that she hadn't notice that night had already fallen, with the moon just making its presence known in the sky.

"S-sure."

He turned to look at her and suddenly froze. Although the moon had yet to shine fully, Hinata was bathed in its light glow. Light winds blew up from the pond before them, causing her indigo locks to sway ever so slightly. Her eyes too, a pale-lavender like the moon itself was gazing directly at him, as though she could see through him. _'Wow...' was_ all he was capable of thinking at the moment and that soon enough filtered out into his words.

"I've...um.... I actually been thinking about it a lot and...Well, um... I..."

Hinata blinked. Naruto was...stuttering? And maybe it was her imagination, but was his face...reddening too? This was an even greater surprise to her that his previous attitude. If anything, he was acting the way she would normally act around him.

"Naruto-kun?"

The young man lowered his head, trying not to stumble over his words this time as he tried again. "Did...did you mean what you said?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What...I said...?"

"When I was fighting Paine... Did you really mean it?"

Confusion turned to realization and she lowered her head to prevent him from seeing the blush that was now covering her face. It was the very reason she had come out to look for him, yet she never thought fully on how to bring up the subject. And now here he went and brought it up instead.

"Hinata?"

She lifted her head to find that he had done the same and now both were face to face. Her cheeks were flushed and she felt light-headed and ready to faint. _'No... I won't...Not now...'_ Resolve steeled itself into her and she answered.

"Naruto-kun... There is nothing I mean more."

The young jinnchuriki looked on as Hinata's eyes were solidly fixed on his. It had just occurred to him that he had never seen her look at him like this before. Normally, her eyes were always lowered, with a few shy glances. But now, she was looking at him face to face, pale-lavender meeting watery-blue.

"_I love you_, Uzumaki Naruto."

For a full minute, Naruto did nothing but stare back at her, utterly speechless. Hinata began to tremble under his gaze, but she remained as she was. His eyes lowered, no longer able to meet her gaze for two reasons. One, he wasn't used to seeing that much emotion in a person. Two, he was pretty sure he was blushing. But he couldn't help it. All this time, and now he noticed it.

_She was beautiful..._

"Not too long ago, I didn't have anyone", he half-whispered to her after awhile. "I was alone. But then after awhile, people started to recognize me, care about me."

She nodded in understanding. It was one of the things that she had noticed when she watched him all those years ago in the Academy; how he was always alone. She always remembered that and how much she didn't want to see him that way. She had thought about approaching him more than several times, but her shy nature always got in the way of that.

"You are a good person, Naruto-kun", she returned. "With a good heart."

But he continued. "But no one... no one had ever... I mean, I know that they do, but..."

A silent gasp escaped her lips as she soon realized just what he was saying through his stutters. "No one had ever _actually _said it to you...?" She hesitated for a moment before saying her next words. "Not even...Sakura...?"

The blond simply shook his head. "Just you."

Now she was the one that had become utterly speechless. To have lived all his life, without knowing, no, without hearing that a person was loved. As he mentioned before, he knew people cared for him, loved him. But there was a world of difference between knowing and hearing. It was nice to _know_ that you were loved, but to _hear_ the words themselves... that made it real.

And now she had discovered that not only had this brave young man had gone through his life without hearing it, but she was the first person to actually say that to him. Nervousness and shock clashed with compassion and emotion within the Hyuuga heiress, with the latter winning over. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she had rushed over and wrapped her arms around him.

Meanwhile, Naruto was rendered speechless once again as the young woman held onto him. Or was it held him? He wasn't sure at the moment. This was a very different embrace from the one he shard with Sakura just a few days ago after his fight with Paine. The way she held him showed that she cared and that she was glad that he was safe and alive.

This one, the one Hinata was giving him right now was pretty much the same except...there was more. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was more to this hug than simple care. There was...affection in it. But she had already told him she loved him.

_Twice now..._

Hinata's mind soon returned to reality and upon realizing what she was doing she quickly broke away in near panic. _'What was I doing?'_ Just because she told him that she loved him didn't give her the right to just clamp onto him like that. So what if he said he had been thinking a lot about her declaration. So what if he told her she was the first person to tell him those words. She was now behaving like a silly fan-girl. Panic grew further and she felt the urge to run. But two things stopped her.

The tree blocking her from behind...

And the warm hand holding her in place...

As soon as her panic came, it vanished when she realized the latter. Meekly, she looked down to see Naruto's hand in a gentle grasp around her own. His grip loosened and she was almost afraid of him letting go, a stark contrast to her behavior before. But he didn't release her fully. Instead, his fingers slowly began to lace around hers, intertwining them together. Her gaze lifting, she saw that his eyes were focused on their interlocked hands.

"Naruto-kun..."

He had no idea what he was doing. He had just wanted her to stay after she pulled away out of their embrace. He had gone from thinking what was she doing to wanting to hug her back to not wanting her to leave. And now, he was playing with her hand? No, that's not it. What he was doing was far more...intimate. He wanted to... wanted to...

His gaze slowly turned toward the young woman before him. The shine of the full moon glistened above, casting its rays upon Hinata. A moment ago, he had thought that she was beautiful. But now in this light, she was more than that. She was ethereal, heavenly, and any other words that could be used to describe a creature from a realm of absolute beauty. Again, her gaze was upon him, not turning away despite the trembling he could feel from her hand. And again, he was left speechless, with no way to explain himself or his actions.

But then again, Naruto always favored actions above words...

Placing his free hand on the bark of the tree behind her, Naruto began to slowly inch his face closer and closer to hers. Hinata's heart beat wildly as he approached, not believing what was happening, yet daring to. She could only watch as he veered closer, his warm breath caressing her lips with the promise of a sweet touch from its source. But then, unexpectedly, he stopped.

"Hinata...I... I don't know if I can say those words to you..."

Hinata felt herself freeze at his words. Was he rejecting her, trying to let her down gently? Maybe everything he had been doing up till now was just teenage hormones? The desire to cry and flee was beginning to rise up in her as these and other doubts flooded her mind. But she waited, seeing that he hadn't finished speaking yet. She felt as though all her training had been for this moment.

_'Please...'_

"But...I think...one day... I would like to..."

He moved closer, guided by emerging feelings and drawn by moonlit beauty. She tilted her head ever so slightly while her eye began to close, both an invitation and acceptance. And it was one he accepted, whispering her name anew.

"Hinata-chan..."

Why hadn't her heart burst before this point, she didn't know. In fact, she couldn't even think at all. All she could do was take in the wonderful feel of Naruto's lips on hers. They were lightly pressed, soft and delicate, almost as though he was nervous. Remarkably, and to his surprise, _she_ changed that when she reached to his back and took hold, pressing her entire body against his while deepening the kiss they were in.

_'Wow...'_

The pressure on his lips lessened almost as quickly as it came. He almost didn't notice it, as he felt quite lightheaded from that kiss. To think that the shy, timid Hinata Hyuuga could kiss with such passion that he practically felt faint from it; it was almost possessive. However, he was beginning to wonder why she stopped all of a sudden. And when he broke away, he soon saw why.

_She fainted..._

He had to catch her before she fell fully and wound up kneeling on the ground with her unconscious form in his arms. He blinked a few times before he smiled, ironically enough, realizing now why she fainted before in his presence. Looking over, he gazed over at their still interlocked hands and reflected on the person that had told him words that he had never been told before.

Words that made her, an even more precious person.

He had been honest with her. He couldn't say that he loved her now. Despite considering her a friend, he had known little about her personally. And there were still his unresolved feelings with Sakura. But he couldn't ignore her feelings for him.

Or...his feelings for her now.

Brushing away a stray hair on her head, he simply smiled again. Since he didn't know her that well, he would _get_ to know her. It would be the least he could do for her. Hinata Hyuuga, whom he learned loved him. Her words were more than enough, but that kiss...that kiss seemed to seal it in him. And it was a kiss he started, so he had to have some feelings for her. Only time would tell. And perhaps, one day...

One day, he will return those words...


End file.
